The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows parts of the U.S. that are in drought and how bad it is. As the Water & Integrated Cropping Systems Extension Educator for Saline, Jefferson, and Gage counties, I contribute reports for this area directly to the weekly authors in Nebraska through our internal Nebraska drought discussion group email listserv or online meetings. I regularly communicate my observations and those shared with me by stakeholders, which did help justify moving areas into a higher classification this summer. The map uses five classifications: abnormally dry (D0), showing areas that may be going into or are coming out of drought, and four levels of drought: moderate (D1), severe (D2), extreme (D3) and exceptional (D4). All of Jefferson County, most of Saline County, and more than half of Gage County were classified as abnormally dry in mid-December. You can view the most recent map anytime at droughtmonitor.unl.edu.
The Drought Monitor is produced jointly by the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Several authors from the NDMC, NOAA and USDA create the map and usually take turns every two weeks. The NDMC hosts the drought monitor website, associated data, and provide the map and data to other agencies. The USDA uses the U.S. Drought Monitor to determine producer’s eligibility for certain drought assistance programs like the Livestock Forage Program and emergency haying and grazing of CRP acres.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is a snapshot of current drought conditions, not a forecast. Each map is an update of the one before. The map comes out on Thursday and shows what happened up through Tuesday morning. Precipitation that falls on Wednesday won’t change the next day’s map, but it might change the next week’s map. This gives the author at least two days to look at all the data and make a final map.
There are multiple ways you can contribute your observations to the process. In Saline, Jefferson, and Gage counties, feel free to contact me and I will relay your observations along with mine to the authors. You can email the Nebraska State Climatologist, Martha Shulski (), our Nebraska Extension Ag Climatologist, Al Dutcher (, or the authors directly at . Lastly, you can submit reports online at go.unl.edu/CMOR
For more information about the U.S. Drought Monitor, please visit the website at droughtmonitor.unl.edu or feel free to call me at 402-821-1722 or email . Know your crop, know your tech, know your bottom line at croptechcafe.org.
